Fennel salad with parmesan croutons

A good lunch salad is an art and takes a little imagination but it doesn’t have to be complicated. I was leafing through a Donna Hay cookbook last night when saw a fennel and chicken salad and decided to translate it to a vegetarian version and change the dressing. I liked the croutons idea so went with that.

The fennel has to be sliced thinly, like they do in Italy, and then marinated for a while in olive oil, lemons juice and salt to slightly soften. Add beautiful baby greens and shave parmesan over into large flakes and let them rain over the salad as you serve it.

Enjoy.

Ingredients:

1 fennel, cleaned and halved lengthwise
A drizzle of good olive oil
Juice from 1/2 a lemon
A large pinch of salt

Baby greens

A chunk of parmesan

Croutons:

Thinly sliced baguette, as many slices as you need, at least 5 per person because they are very thin.
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Shaved parmesan
A few sprigs thyme, leaved stripped off